North Valley Hospital chef first in state to earn national certification

When a patient enters North Valley Hospital, Andrew Meyers wants to make sure they get the food they need to help them heal.

Sometimes that means happily fixing pancakes at 2 p.m. for a 9-year-old girl in the Emergency Room. Other times, though, there are stranger requests, like the man who ordered a bowl of sliced lemons or the woman who asked for a glass of bourbon and a cigar.

“When you come here as a patient and have a request for food, whether it might be your last meal or you’re just not feeling well and you need the healing power of something that’s comforting, we want to make sure we get that to you,” Meyers said.

Meyers is the director of nutrition and environmental services at North Valley Hospital. For him the priority is making sure the food is clean, safe to eat, but also tastes great. He says the way the hospital makes meals today is nothing like hospital food of old.

“The old-school stereotype of hospital food was a tray line, where they put it on your tray and deliver it to you, he said. “All of our patients here have the opportunity to select the food they want and receive it when they want. We provide services that are practically on par with any restaurant in Whitefish.”

Meyers was recently recognized by the American Hospital Association as Montana’s only Certified Hospital Environmental Services Professional, a national credential held by just over 400 healthcare environmental services professionals. To become certified, Meyers had to cover nearly 800 pages of material on healthcare environmental services, which includes safe cooking practices, sustainable use of resources and sanitation, and complete a 180-question test. He’s also required to take continuing education courses to stay up to date in the latest environmental healthcare trends.

For Meyers, food and the environment are two sides of the same coin.

On the food side, Meyers oversees meal planning and the dietary focuses for the hospital’s Valley Café, which offers a variety of food selections for patients and visitors to the hospital. In the cafe, sustainable practices is a key priority.

To keep the kitchen environmentally friendly, the hospital focuses on products that are safer to use and dispose of and finding ways to make the kitchen more efficient, like replacing disposable coffee cups with easily-cleaned ceramic mugs.

Meyers also works to incorporate local businesses into their meals, using products from places like Kalispell Kreamery, Big Sky Beef and produce from farms in the Valley.

“We’re able to provide healthier, local products to patients,” he said.

As far as sanitation is concerned, Meyers emphasized the difference in cleaning priorities at a healthcare facility.

“Hospital settings are unique and they’re a little different than vacuuming your carpet at home,” he said. “When we do a room clean here, we don’t just come in and change the sheets and wipe down the toilet. We literally clean everything.”

Cleaning isn’t a practice that’s set in stone, either. Meyers said with new diseases and viruses always emerging, the cleaning process at the hospital needs to be flexible and constantly refreshed.

“With all the different changes and scares we have out there, with the Zika virus and everything else, being current and up to date on appropriate cleaning practices and working with an infection control team is essential to make sure that we maintain our high quality care,” he said.

Making quality-tasting food and maintaining clean rooms isn’t everything, though, and there’s something to be said for making both appear as nice as possible, Meyers said.

“If something looks clean and well-organized, then it just gives you a better impression,” he said. “It’s the same thing with food, providing nice presentations of food with color, height and different textures will add to your experience.”

Meyers has over 20 years of experience in culinary arts, nutrition, and healthcare. After completing his graduate work at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he attended the New England Culinary Institute where he learned fresh, local, sustainable food practices, and the healing power of quality food. Meyers has expanded his knowledge and understanding of safe and effective environmental services with his previous certifications as a Professional Food Manager and Certified Dietary Manager.

Meyers started working at North Valley a year and a half ago after working in Salt Lake City and parts of western Washington. Going from larger cities to a smaller, tighter community like Whitefish has been a big plus, he said.

“People were a number and not a name, and you just didn’t have time to do the quality care that we do here at North Valley,” he said. “When I had the opportunity a year and a half ago to come up here, it just seemed like the right fit.”

While Meyers said he’s not particularly fond of the nitty-gritty of his job, when he puts it all together he knows he has something to be proud of.

“I don’t know if I actually enjoy the process of mopping a floor or chopping up a carrot, but it’s all those things that are incorporated with it and the joy that you bring people with food and a great, clean environment,” he said.